CIMMYT and Uzbekistan Join Efforts to Transform the Country’s Wheat Sector
Tashkent, Uzbekistan | June 3, 2026 — CIMMYT and the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan today signed an award agreement for the bridge phase of Advancing Wheat Innovation and Capacity in Uzbekistan (AWIC-UZ), a landmark initiative to modernize the country’s wheat sector. The agreement begins the conversion of the letter of intent signed in March 2026 into operational reality and builds toward the larger, more ambitious, follow-on AWIC-UZ program.
Wheat underpins Uzbekistan’s food security and rural livelihoods. Yet the crop faces converging and urgent pressures: climate change is compressing cropping seasons, yellow rust looms as a major biotic threat, soil-borne pathogens are silently eroding yields across key production zones, and Fusarium head blight raises an emerging quality concern. This phase of the agreement is designed to seize a unique window of opportunity, converting political will into concrete action through targeted scientific exchanges, the introduction of elite germplasm, and systematic disease diagnostics.
This award agreement stems from a wheat cropping and productivity assessment conducted in the country in 2025 by CIMMYT scientists in collaboration with Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Agriculture.
A Bridge to Transformational Change
The bridge phase will deliver immediate technical results while creating a fact-based road map for the full AWIC-UZ program. Over 18 months, the project will introduce selected CIMMYT germplasm, initiate joint phenotypic evaluation across multiple sites, advance speed-breeding capacity, and conduct systematic surveys for yellow rust, soil-borne pathogens, and Fusarium head blight. Uzbekistan will also be connected to the global wheat disease surveillance and advisory system, strengthening early-warning capacity for the region.
“This agreement is a clear demonstration of CIMMYT’s commitment to working hand-in-hand with governments across the region to strengthen resilience, build capacity, and improve national and regional food security. It is also a demonstration of Uzbekistan’s regional stewardship in forging a path toward a more food-secure future for Central Asia,” said Dr. Bram Govaerts, Director General of CIMMYT.
Building National Capacity and Connecting Institutions
A central pillar of this stage is strengthening Uzbek scientific capacity. The agreement supports postdoctoral and graduate student placements at CIMMYT’s headquarters in Mexico and at its Türkiye office, alongside targeted team training on breeding methodologies and root diseases. A national technical workshop in Uzbekistan will align methods, review progress, and build long-term institutional ownership.
In parallel, the bridge phase will strengthen and coordinate Uzbekistan’s wheat breeding capabilities into a national program equipped with advanced breeding methodologies and genomic selection tools. Roles and responsibilities across Uzbek partner institutions will be jointly defined to align efforts in breeding, pathology, phenotyping, training, field operations, and data management.
Reiterating the Republic of Uzbekistan’s strong commitment to the partnership, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Alisher Shukurov said at the signing of the award agreement, “This partnership with CIMMYT reinforces the importance of scientific collaboration to improving wheat production in Uzbekistan, strengthening national capacity for research, innovation, and leadership in food security. By bringing together scientific expertise, global institutional partnerships, and shared ambition, we aim to help address common challenges while accelerating sustainable agricultural development in Uzbekistan and across Central Asia”
A Partnership for the Region
Through the bridge phase and the full program that follows, Uzbekistan and CIMMYT will work together with farmers, private companies, local farmer cooperatives, NGOs, and other international partners to transform the country’s wheat value chain — from seed systems and breeding to disease management, agronomy, and market access.
For Uzbekistan, the implications extend beyond domestic food supply. By modernizing its breeding infrastructure and disease surveillance, the country is positioning itself as a leader in Central Asian wheat research, contributing to regional food and nutrition security at a critical moment for global agri-food systems.
About CIMMYT
CIMMYT is a cutting-edge, non-profit, international organization dedicated to solving tomorrow’s problems today. It is entrusted with fostering improved quantity, quality, and dependability of production systems and basic cereals such as maize, wheat, triticale, sorghum, millets, and associated crops through applied agricultural science, particularly in the Global South, through building strong partnerships. This combination enhances the livelihood trajectories and resilience of millions of resource-poor farmers, while working towards a more productive, inclusive, and resilient agrifood system within planetary boundaries.
To know more, visit CIMMYT at: www.cimmyt.org
For more information:
Nahyane Bakkali, External Communications Manager (CIMMYT)